Data buses internal to and interconnecting avionics, navigation, and other flight-critical system components of an aircraft may be subject to substantial noise or interference during operation. Such interference may be created by both terrestrial based sources, such as television or radio transmitters, and non-terrestrial sources, such as an aircraft's radar. These data buses must be able to operate nominally in the presence of this interference. For example, U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations may require that certain electronic systems of transport aircraft be designed to withstand exposure to high-intensity radiated fields (“HIRF”) without adverse effect. As defined in the regulations, HIRF threats within a broad range of frequencies and with peak field strengths of up to 3000 volts per meter in some frequency ranges must be withstood by the data buses interconnecting these electronic systems in the aircraft.
Traditionally, such data buses are protected from HIRF-level threats and other interference through the use of wire shielding encompassing the bus wiring. However, wire shielding increases the overall weight of the aircraft, thus affecting aircraft performance. The use of shielded wiring for data buses may also increase the maintenance requirements of the aircraft. For example, the integrity of the wire shielding may need to be periodically verified, further increasing maintenance costs. In addition, the wire shielding may be less effective for “in-band” interference, i.e. from interference that occurs in the operation frequency band of the data bus.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.